Poland PM: EU Ruling Won’t Affect Country’s Migrant Stand

Polish
STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP/Getty

(AP) — Poland’s prime minister says her country will stick by its refusal to take in refugees even though the European Union’s top court is reasserting its right to force member states to accept asylum-seekers.

Beata Szydlo spoke on Wednesday after the European Court of Justice rejected efforts by Hungary and Slovakia to stay out of an EU scheme meant to relocate refugees from Greece and Italy. Poland backed the Hungarian and Slovak complaint.

Szydlo says she isn’t surprised by the court’s decision, but that it “absolutely does not change the position of the Polish government with respect to migration policy.”

The developments prolong a standoff between the EU members struggling to absorb a large number of asylum-seekers and several Central European nations opposed to accepting migrants.

Hungarian and Polish leaders, in particular, often describe Muslim refugees as potential security threats.

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